After going to business school, Mike Lins decided that business wasn’t for him. Instead he found his passion in a place he would never expect.

Lins found his passion in helping kids who struggle with either their school life and even their home and personal lives. His class is called transitions and he gets a variety of personalities and also many different difficulties.

“I help kids with every obstacle,” Lins said.

Not only does he help them with their school work, but he also helps them with problems they are facing outside of school. This is a big part of what Lins does and it is also one of the most difficult things, too. When kids come in with problems such as sexual abuse, he said, it is the hardest part of his job.

Lins loves his job, even though it can be difficult to hear what students go through. “I like what I do. I love what I do,” Lins says.

His students are truly what make this job special for him. He has an unbreakable bond with his students that was not easy to get with some of them. His trick is if his students like him, trust him, they will do what he asks, he said.

His relationship with his students can truly bring a smile to anyone’s face. His favorite part about his job is “watching kids walk on stage in four years,” he said. Anyone can see that his bond works with his students because he said he has an impressive 75 percent graduation rate.

Lins does anything and everything in his power to help any student that many people would usual overlook. With one particular student Lins said, “I paid his cellphone if he did work and went to school,” this motivation from Lins led this student to be able to walk up the stage and accept his diploma.

It isn’t just Lins who is influenced by his students, but he is also making a difference in their lives. Lins said that he recently received a heartwarming phone call from a former student who told him that he had named his newborn son after Lins.

His advice for everyone is quite simple.

“You have one life, one life. What do you want to do?”